


Silent For Too Long

by bubblegumclouds



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Butcher Louis, Butcher shop AU, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Love/Hate, M/M, Other, Protester!Harry, Protests, Shop owner Louis, Vegetarians & Vegans, shoulder pain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 08:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13632498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblegumclouds/pseuds/bubblegumclouds
Summary: Louis just took over as owner of the butchers 'Beat Your Meat' and Harry is the local vegan and animal rights protester.(The angsty butcher!Louis and vegan protester!Harry AU that I thought needed to exist)





	Silent For Too Long

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to paint both sources in the best light but as a vegetarian with vegan friends, it's hard not to take bias! Hope you enjoy!
> 
> Twitter- angeltxmlinson  
> Tumblr- angeltxmlinson

The sign Harry wielded was being held proudly, the words ‘MEAT IS MURDER’ displayed in a gruesome red colour. People did the same as they always did when Harry spent his weekend protesting outside of the local butchers. They would cover their children’s eyes, hustling and guiding them away from Harry as if he wasn’t just trying to open their eyes to the death and killing happening right in front of their face. 

He’d started this when the shop had been on the news, they had been found to have had in their possession and sold bushmeat which is illegal in the UK. Harry, like many of his friends, had been outraged at the news and took their banners and chants directly to the streets. Now, the news had died down a long time ago, his friends moving on to other issues, however, this was Harry’s home and seeing the shop still standing proudly at a prime spot on his high-street made him sad. He’d worked on a farm since he was a child and grown attached to every animal he’d studied and looked after. It broke his heart that millions of people were so blindly killing these intelligent and caring creatures for something as trivial as food.

“Mate, I’ve got a headache today, give it a bloody rest.” That complaint came from the manager and owner of Beat Your Meat (Harry had vouched the shop get shut down for that awful name alone). He had bought the shop only a few weeks after the news controversy and Harry had gotten into many fights with the previous owners so he had no doubts the same would happen here.  
“I won’t stop until the animals are safe from murderers like you,” Harry replied coldly, flicking his long curls away from his face.  
“Yeah well you’re murdering this animal here with those awful chants,” the boy replied as he clicked the lock open and slammed the door shut, cutting off their conversation. Harry shook his head in disgust, turning his nose up at the stench of uncooked flesh burning in his nostrils.

Not 5 minutes later, the owner came back out with a sign in hand. He clearly wasn’t strong enough to carry the sign himself as he huffed and strained to get it past the doorframe. Harry stood strong, staying ignorant to the evil mans suffering just like he was blind to whatever animal parts came through his doors. Usually, a worker did this, he never saw the owner do more than go out and in. Maybe they were losing staff and closing. That brought a sly grin to Harry’s face.

“Fancy doing something actually useful and giving me a hand?” the owner sarcastically commented and Harry kept his head high.  
“Would you like me to hold the pig’s head as you slaughter her children too? What about load the cows into a van to their imminent deaths?” Harry spat back and the owner groaned.  
“Fuck you too,” he replied bitterly as he crouched and dragged the sign as far into its usual position as he could get it.  
“There’s no excuse for animal abuse! There’s no excuse for animal abuse!” Harry repeated loudly as he waved his sign.

“Ah fuck, ah.” Harry stopped and stood static at the loud expletives, knowing chanting wasn't appropriate. The owner was clutching his shoulder as he knelt on the floor. Harry couldn’t see his face but he was rocking slightly.  
“Hey? Are you alright?” Harry dropped his sign and rushed to the man's side, his face was screwed up tightly and turning a violent shade of red.  
“No. Clearly fucking not asshole. I’d be fine though if you’d just thought about someone else for a fucking minute instead of your precious animals,” the guy argued as he let out whimpers and gasps of pain. Harry noticed the nametag when he rocked back, Louis.

“Louis, can I call someone for you?” Harry asked and Louis brushed him off, muttering more swearwords as he got up and turn the sign to ‘closed’.  
“You got what you fucking wanted alright, we’re closed today. You can go home,” Louis growled, tears starting to stream down his face and sniffles barely audible. Harry opened and closed his mouth, desperate to say something but he simply watched as Louis locked up and headed off down the street. Watching him go, Harry felt the guilt rise.

The next day Harry debated whether he should turn up but seeing yet another meat news story littering the headlines pushed him to fight against the media and murders no matter how guilty he felt for one enabler.  
“What do we want? Animal liberation! When do we want it? Now!” Harry chanted in the early hours, already prepared for a long day of stares and abuse.  
“Unbelievable.” A voice came from his left and his head whipped over. Louis stood with a sling positioned over his uninjured shoulder.

“Murderers don’t rest and neither do I,” Harry replied simply, making sure to not let his confidence flag.  
“You dislocate my shoulder and yet you still can’t give it a fucking rest. Before calling me a murderer maybe you should take a look at yourself,” Louis snapped, huffing his way through the door, tear tracks evident on his face yet again. Harry carried on his chanting regardless of whether his voice cracked on a few words, it was a small price to pay for a bigger result.

Things went okay for a while, Louis ignored Harry when he opened and closed for his own sanity, Harry had successfully gotten away with his chanting and had little fuss doing so. It was on a Tuesday morning he got the notification.

“Beat Your Meat on Facebook- ‘It is with a heavy heart that I announce we are closing our doors. Thank you to our customers over the years, you have made this shop the magnificent success it was. My father put his life savings into this store yet sadly we cannot maintain it.  
Louis, former owner of Beat Your Meat.”

Harry ditched his avocado and ran down there to celebrate, the press must already be crowding the place. This was his perfect chance to get his message out there, show a wider audience that the animals deserved rights.

He sprinted to the shop however contrary to what he had thought, there was no press. The place was as empty as every other day. He wondered if maybe they hadn’t gotten around to collecting the story yet so he figured he’d wait until they came. As Harry got closer he saw Louis perched on the step. Harry would have been delighted if he hadn’t got closer and seen that in fact Louis was _sobbing_. Not just crying, but choking on the loud, echoing noises erupting from his throat. Harry sighed sadly, the victory not feeling sweet at all.

“Louis?” Harry whispered, unsure if he should even draw attention to his presence.  
“Listen, I’m not one to beg but please, please for the love of god not now. _Please.”_ Louis pleaded as he looked towards the sky, silently wishing for today to pass simply and Harry sat down next to him.  
“For what it’s worth, I wish it wasn’t you this had happened to,” Harry admitted and Louis didn’t reply, just cried loudly into his palms. Harry had never come across someone in such a state, the sight was overwhelming in a sense because Harry just didn’t know what to do.

“Louis, has something else happened?” Harry asked, not understanding why a shop would be causing this sort of utter devastation.  
“Apart from my dead dad’s shop being shut down, apart from me having no money, apart from the shame of being a disappointment to my parents? Yeah, everything is fucking great,” Louis rambled as he spat everywhere, his social etiquette far from his mind and Harry’s stomach hit the floor.  
“I-I, Louis I had no idea, I’m sorry,” Harry apologised and Louis just sighed, wiping away the tears and looking out into the street. He’d lost his place to call home so he didn’t have the capacity to hold any more anger within him at an already bitter outlook on the world.

“Well you got your way, no more murders,” Louis replied and Harry couldn’t help but pull Louis in for a hug. Louis obliged, clearly exhausted from the stress. They didn’t say anything more... they couldn’t.

“Hey Louis,” Harry almost ran to the boy with an urgency, he’d been clearing out the shop every day for the past couple of days. Harry always smiled and told him he was doing a great job when he skipped past Louis hauling boxes around, the anxiety that Louis would hurt his shoulder again occasionally hitting him.

“Do you ever quit, what part of we’re closed don’t you understand?” Louis sighed in despair and Harry grinned, clearly having knowledge Louis didn’t have.  
“I was going to tell you not to pack everything away,” Harry replied as coolly as possible and Louis paused, leaning on the wall and wiping his moisture-covered forehead with his dirty sleeve.  
“What the hell are you on about?” Louis asked, his brows furrowed and his breaths coming out in pants.  
“I was wondering if you’d like to co-own this place with me and turn it into a vegan restaurant?” Harry asked excitedly and Louis laughed as he rolled his eyes at the naivety behind such an ambitious question.

“I don’t have time for your games kid, I’ve got to get this shifted by the end of the week,” Louis turned his back on Harry who was bobbing excitedly from foot to foot, and began packing boxes away.  
“I’m serious, I always dreamed of owning a shop here and I’ve got the funds plus some,” Harry explained and that made Louis freeze in his spot, his hands stilling at the mention of money.  
“How do you have the funds?” He asked, seeming more interested but still holding onto the fact this could be a half-hearted promise that would soon fall short.

“Parent’s savings for me, it was either for a degree or a business,” Harry shrugged nonchalantly as if the thousands were loose change and Louis squinted at him, debating whether to brush this off.  
“Alright, come in and we’ll talk,” Louis said suspiciously, willing to at least hear him out, even if it was only due to a hint of getting his money back.  
“I’d, um, rather not,” Harry grimaced and gestured to the stains left by the meat and Louis laughed.  
“Of course,” Louis rolled his eyes and shook his head fondly, “look, here’s my place. Swing by later and we’ll see, okay?” Louis handed Harry a card and Harry grinned. They were starting something and no matter what their opinions on it, they couldn’t deny that there was a new chapter on the horizon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave kudos, comments and subscribe for weekly fics!
> 
> Twitter- angeltxmlinson  
> Tumblr- angeltxmlinson


End file.
